Inheritance
by supermassive ego
Summary: HMDS. Juliet "Jill" Wilson didn't know what it was going to take to motivate her to work, but she certainly didn't expect the exile of a goddess and her underlings to a completely different dimension. Restoring the world to normal is going to take the one thing Jill is worst at- honest, hard work. (eventual JillXSkye)
1. Chapter 1

It's been a month since she's moved into this old farmhouse in the Forget-Me-Not Valley. It's also been a month since Juliet Wilson, better known as Jill, was forced out of the nest straight into the big wide world after the loss of her mother; a loss that only worsened the blow that came from her father's death a few years earlier.

Farming has always been part of the family business. The legacy of Pete Wilson is one that's been carried down for generations, as have the hammer, sickle, axe, watering can, and hoe that are sitting in the unoccupied stable next door, gathering dust. Anything but hard, honest work isn't an option for the Wilson family.

Jill wishes it wasn't.

Now would be just about the perfect time for those family history investigators from TV to find a mystery older sibling that was in line to inherit the farm before her. But this farmhouse doesn't even have a TV. Food is delivered to the doorstep in a basket, carried all the way over from the supermarket in Mineral Town. The vast field outside threatens to grow into a sea of straggly weeds, fallen branches and rocks, with a single peach tree surviving amidst the chaos. Animal barns and chicken coops have long since fallen to storms of the past, and sometimes Jill swears she can hear mournful sounds of bleating and clucking in her sleep; yet the only animals on the ranch are the cat and dog, lovingly named Cat and Dog by a younger, less imaginative Jill. The farm itself feels like a ghost of the past, the glory days. And without a scrap of guidance, except for Takakura, the rather crabby "mentor" living next door, Jill has no idea how to bring it back. It's been that way all through that month.

Until the strange dream happened. Even then, she's not even sure if that's a good way to describe it.

She's asleep, tossing and turning on the unfamiliar bed. All the while, the lady and her consorts stand at the bedside, looking at the brunette with shame.

"I promised her mother to make her work hard," the lady sighs, putting a hand to her hip. She looks like- and probably is- the Harvest Goddess of myth that lurks in the spring up in the hills, the one all the people in the valley talk about so fervently. She's swathed in faintly shimmering silk, and her skirts flow like the water in her pond. Her hair is a deep shade of green, and is done up in two buns on each side of her head. A single long plait floats down from it, swishing as she speaks. "But it's no use. I've tried as hard as I can to make her work, and she just stays in bed all day." The little consorts at her feet mutter in agreement- they're like the little elves seen at Christmas, only decked out in an individual colour of the rainbow, but Jill knows from word on the wind that they're not elves, they're Harvest Sprites, underlings of the Goddess. That is, if little Hugh and his excited ramblings are to be trusted. But that isn't what the lucid Jill is concerned with right now.

"Maybe it would be easier if it was someone different," the Goddess muses, her eyes narrowing. "This girl's far too lazy to be any good, and I just can't change her. I suppose there's naught we can do but give up."

The Harvest Sprites titter in agreement again, but their tiny voices are disrupted, disrupted with a thunder that almost causes Jill to wake up. Only the thunder is a voice, and the voice comes from nowhere.

_"'Give up'?! The only lazy one here is _you_!_ _You're the Harvest Goddess! You're responsible for this girl!"_

The Harvest Sprites squeak, and panic is evident on all their cherublike faces. "The Harvest King!" can be heard among their nervous stutters. The Goddess, however, seems nothing but annoyed. Quite an unholy expression is on her face, and her slender, graceful hands clench into fists. She glares at the ceiling, in the knowing that her boss would never list out his complaints in person. Viridian green eyebrows arch. "She's useless! A hopeless cause!"

_"It's your job to _make _her useful! Is that beyond your abilities now? It seems even time is out of your grasp now... perhaps I should employ a younger god in your place..."_

Her anger only heightens, and the Harvest Sprites recoil as if stung. They crowd around the lady, as if to form a protective circle around the Goddess, and Jill is completely ignored. The Harvest Goddess shakes her fist at the ceiling, lines of anger showing up on a previously unspoilt visage. "Why, you... my age has nothing to do with it!" After a moment, she twitches, and pouts. "You can't hide the years either! Baldy!"

And in that moment, Jill swears her dream has suddenly transformed into a schoolyard. Although the Harvest Goddess remains resolute, her arms crossed and her face the picture of irritance, the Harvest Sprites start cackling, the word "baldy" being tossed between them like a ball. Over the giggling and heckling, the large voice is silenced, although an aura of rage hangs over the room like a stormcloud. Jill is sure something terrible is about to happen- and she's right.

"I'll teach you not to insult me," the voice growls.

A smirk tugs at the corner of the Goddess' mouth. "I'd like to see you t-"

But her remark is never finished. There's a snap of light, and only a glimpse is seen of the woman's surprised face as she vanishes completely.

The Sprites all blink, and face each other in confusion, trying to make something of the situation. Eventually, an agreement is reached between them, and they face the ceiling, anger on each of their faces.

"What did you do?!" one of them demands, his hat and clothing perfectly matching his red face.

"Yeah, what did you do?!" an orange-hatted one besides him echoes, slightly unsure of what to say, but angry nevertheless.

"It's only 'cause you're insecure about your baldness, chrome-dome!" the yellow-hatted one shrieks, and his remark seemingly strikes a chord with the other Harvest Sprites.

Soon enough, Jill's bedside is a schoolyard again. The "baldy" remark is thrown to the ceiling with great enthusiasm and vigour on behalf of the tiny people, and once more laughter is shared at the Harvest King's expense. One purple-hatted Sprite even pummels his own head wildly, as if it were a drum. In all her nineteen years, Jill has never seen such a downright bizarre example of teasing, semi-conscious dream or not.

"Silence, all of you... listen... I'm not..." The huge voice doesn't seem so intimidating for a few minutes as it attempts to subdue the erratic laughter of the elf-like beings next to Jill, but it's easily forgotten in the next few minutes. The voice lets out an almighty roar, and the light rips across the room again. Every single Harvest Sprite vanishes from the spot.

The silence is startling, and the room is empty once more- empty to the point where Jill can't tell if she's woken up or not. But she's unmoving, and knows the dream isn't over yet.

Hesitation is rife in the air. It's as if she can feel the breath of this strange force, the "Harvest King" they're all afraid of. Jill knows this is all her fault- it was her laziness that led to all this- and the knowledge that maybe this isn't really real after all does nothing to quell the thumping of her heart, as the void carries her to sleep.

But her peace of mind doesn't remain for long.

In the morning, she's thwacked in the face with a long, wooden stick- and it hits _hard_. Unused to such an unceremonious awakening, Jill's eyes open with a start, and she looks over in irritance to where the Harvest Goddess had been standing in the dream, expecting some kind of explanation for the origin of the smack.

As expected, the tall green-haired lady is nowhere to be seen, as with her considerably shorter subjects. Instead, a girl with straggly blonde hair and eyes the colour of dried blood stands in her stead, looking at Jill with a rather bored, expectant expression. Jill is sure she's never seen her before- or the broom that remains in the girl's hand, which looks to be the origin of the smack.

"Well, you're finally awake," the girl remarks dryly, rolling her eyes. "I thought I'd have to use a spell on you or something."

Spells? Brooms? Was this some kind of elaborate prank? "Who _are _you?" Jill asks, disgruntled.

"I'm the Witch Princess, and currently I serve as a mail delivery service for the Harvest King who seemingly can't deliver his own goddamn letters," the girl replies, with an equal amount of enthusiasm. She shoves a letter into Jill's hands. "Read this."

"Harvest King?" Jill echoes in horror. _Oh, God, no. She can't be serious._

"That's the one," the Witch Princess responds. "Normally, we'd get the Harvest Goddess or those midgets- sorry, Sprites, to whine at you. But she's kind of tied up at the moment."

The girl's words only cause Jill to panic further, and she jumps out of bed, her eyes never shifting from the piece of paper. Jill fumbles at the door to open it, and grabs the basket of food sitting outside, nearly tipping it over. Cat uses this as an opportunity to sneak in, but the feline is ignored as Jill reads the letter to herself.

"_The Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites have been sent to another dimension because you couldn't do your work_," Jill reads anxiously, her voice wobbling. The Witch Princess examines Cat with interest in the background, nonplussed by Jill's words. "_Work hard, and they'll be restored to this world again. Sincerely, the Harvest King_... what?"

"You can read his handwriting?" the Witch Princess asks. "Hmm, maybe you're not as stupid as the Goddess thinks you are."

"Then... then that must mean that that dream was... real?" Jill asks, a shiver beginning to pulse through her fingers. "Where the Goddess..."

"Called the Harvest King bald, and got exiled to another dimension for her trouble? Yes," the Witch Princess replies, still completely unfazed as Cat prowls around her feet. "The Sprites, too, in case you were wondering. And without the Goddess, we can't..." The Witch Princess pauses, and shrugs. "Well, actually, I don't care what happens to her, she's about as much good as you are. But I'm sure maybe you'll be able to get some kind of legendary tale of all her wonderous feats from the villagers if you ask around enough." She snaps her fingers, and an arcane circle blooms beneath her feet, scaring Cat to the other side of the room. "Well, my courier service is over. Come to my shack if you want to ruin some crops or split up some relationships or something. Bye."

The Witch Princess disappears, leaving Jill alone. Cat meows, and sneaks a bit of bread out of the basket. Jill remains where she stands, in her oversized T-shirt, staring at the letter in awe.

"No way," she murmurs.

She looks up, and her eyes cross paths with a photograph of her father on the bookshelf. It's black-and-white, and only vaguely looks like the man she knew for fourteen years of her life before the heart attack that got between them. There's steel in the monochrome eyes that stare back at her, and she knows that if hewas here now, there wasn't a chance that any of this would be happening. Jill would be a hard worker, never thinking for a minute that she wasn't cut out for the job or that she didn't know how to do it.

"I'll do it," she mutters determinedly, and nods. "Yes. I'll make you proud, Dad."

At this decision, fireworks ring in Jill's head, and she's struck with a sudden sense of motivation she's never felt before. She runs over to the box in the corner of the room that contains all her clothing, and pulls on what she feels is most suitable for the job she's going to begin today- after rifling through flimsy cardigans and delicate patent pumps and miniskirts, she finds a t-shirt, some old jeans which did nothing for her figure, some old boots (probably her mother's) and an old looking apron-type thing, picked solely for the purpose of the multiple pockets it possesses- probably useful for holding seeds, she figures. No sooner than she's pulled on all the clothes and brushed her muddy-brown hair into a ponytail does she hear a knock at the door.

_The Witch Princess again? _she asks herself, as she makes her way over. _No. probably not. Takakura, maybe? What have I done this time? Why would anyone want me at this hour?_

She glosses over all of the names in the Valley that she knows as she opens the door, and as she sees the face of the jolly-looking man on the doormat, her expectations are crushed. He looks to be about middle-age, but his hair is noticeably thinning on top- the red top hat that perches on the top of his head doesn't help to disguise it in the least. He has a bulbous nose and a large brown moustache proudly bristling beneath it, and his bespectacled eyes seem tiny in comparison. Jill is sure, as with before, that she's never seen this man before in her life.

"Hello," she says cautiously.

"Good morning!" the man responds cheerfully. "My name is Thomas, and I'm the mayor of Mineral Town. I've been notified that you've taken up this farm in your father's stead, Ms. Juliet."

_He couldn't have turned up a month ago? What's Mineral Town got to do with this, anyway? _"Um, yes, I did."

"Great!" he grins. This old man's attitude is as bright as his clothing, Jill decides. "Then the paperwork was right."

"You said you were the mayor of Mineral Town," Jill frowned, "and it's great that you're over here and all, but isn't there, uh... mayorly stuff you need to attend to?"

"Ah," Thomas frowns in return, "there _would _be. You see, this ranch is a very valuable piece of land, in a prime location. The produce that's come from it has never been anything but the highest quality, and has been imported all over the world. As this valley has no real authority figure of its own to control the shipments, there are multiple towns that decide where the produce goes. When we got news of the heir- and by 'we', I mean the mayors across the towns, you understand- we decided that one of us had to take the shipments given how young you still are, and I..." His eyebrows furrow, and he holds the brim of his hat in irritance. "I lost the rock-paper-scissors match, and that's why I'm here. It's my responsibility to take the shipments in every evening from now on. Oh, brother..." He makes some grumbling sounds beneath his breath that he's sure Jill won't be able to hear, and grins again, somewhat mockingly this time. "But are you sure you want to stay here? This farm is awfully overgrown. It could take a while to restore it. Besides, it might be a bit difficult for a beginner to manage a big farm like this. We could find you a nice lot in Mineral Town you could use? It'd be a lot easier for a girl like you."

This time, Jill's eyebrows furrow. As the heiress to a multi-million grossing farm estate, she at least thinks she would be respected. "A girl like me?" she repeats. "Difficult?" She knows getting angry with this man would only make the situation worse, but it's difficult to hide the annoyance that arises from not being taken seriously.

The mayor laughs nervously. "Of course! Why, this place barely looks like a farm anymore. I doubt you'd be able to sort out a problem like that. Maybe we could get you started with assistant work at Vesta's farm? Mind you, she doesn't need the burden, there's already Marlin and Celia... hmm..."

As the mayor rambles on about a list of places Jill could go, her ears pick up a low growling sound nearby. She looks over to the kennel besides the house, and Dog is there, bewildered by the strange new visitor. "Stay," she whispers.

"Perhaps you might like to go a different route to farm work?" the mayor suggests, his bright tone still evident, and the condescension is causing Jill to see red. "There are plenty of opportunities out there for a young lady such as yourself. It's almost a shame to be constrained to farm work! We can sell this land off to someone else if you like, and you can use the funds to get yourself started in the big wide world- you'd have to give a majority of it to the governments, though, you understand, part of-"

She's had enough. "_No._"

And just like that, with a single stomp of her foot, Dog takes the hint and leaps into action. Despite his small size, the beagle is easily able to take Thomas by surprise, and in seconds Thomas is taken down. She knows this man can't hide the years, and the panic he expresses as Dog rips away at his tailcoat and gnaws at his ankles is almost terrifying to behold. Half of her wants to smile, half of her wants to panic too- this man is rude, he's condescending, she hates how he's just turned up on her doorstep with a jolly smile and talked down to her, but Goddess forbid she hates him enough to watch his brutal demise right there and then.

"Dog," she says, as fiercely as she can muster. "_Down._"

The puppy growls, and leaves the Mayor alone, but not before ripping a piece of cloth away from the coat in defiance. Thomas crawls back up, his once-comical features displaying a mixture of fear, anger and apprehension. Jill isn't sure whether to help him up or to stand her ground- but the decision is made for her.

"I come by to pick up shipments at five o'clock," he says gruffly, straightening his buttercup-coloured bow tie. His face is covered in dirt, and there's mud all down his clothing. "You'd better make a quick start."

"Um..." Jill looks down. "I didn't mean for that to happen, I'm sorry. He's still a puppy..."

The Mayor grunts. He's a completely different man from the plump, jolly figure that knocked on the door. "I'll let this off with a warning. If this happens again, we'll start having second thoughts about who's allowed to run this farm."

_Our first meeting, and he's already broken character. _Jill shivers under the Mayor's steely glare, and he departs without so much as a goodbye. She watches tentatively from the doorframe, as the morning sun begins to rise, and the light hits him right on the back of the head.

"Heh," she mutters. "Baldy."

* * *

putting author notes at the beginning of the chapter is too mainstream

so um yes I wrote this thing

dunno how long it's going to be

Harvest Moon belongs to Natsume and stuff

stuff will actually happen in the next chapter I think including the beginning of our heroine's _~kawaii romansu~_

if you are reading this part it means that you've probably read through the chapter and for that, dear reader, I thank you for your time

this is the supermassive ego signing out


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: good golly it's a new chapter anyone here as excited about this as I am tally ho pip pip

also a line-breaker littered with the letter m and those little squiggly line things (I forgot what the symbol thingy is called. you know, like these ~ cuties? yea brotha) signifies a switch to Skye's perspectiv.e ***now you kno*** linebreakers that are just lines are just from Jill's perspective because unlike our obligatory love interest she is significantly un-fabulous and not squiggly. ok. exposition over. stop wasting your time reading the author notes you silly goose

* * *

If there's one thing Jill's grown to despise about the Mayor over the past few hours, it's that he's probably right about the farm situation. She's been up for ages now, all on her own in the expanse of a field, hacking and slashing away at the abundance of weeds with the old sickle in the stable- although she figures "omnipresent leafy abominations from a dimension exceeding simple human comprehension" would be a better way to describe them. There's no end to it- and that's ignoring the countless amount of rocks and fallen branches she keeps tripping over. She presumes that's what the axe and the hammer are for, but heaven knows how she's going to use those without giving herself some grievous bodily injury. Going to the local doctor with an axe wedged in her foot seems like a situation Jill would rather avoid- especially after hearing the rumour of his laser eyeball.

She sighs, and mops her forehead with a handkerchief, dropping the sickle on the floor with a noisy clatter. It looks like it's going to be a while until the land is ready to plant crops on- not that there's going to be many of those, of course, unless the shrimpy bag of turnip seeds she scavenged from the hay in the stable are as good as their presence on Wilson Ranch would have you believe. But it's going to be a while until she has enough money to buy more.

"What am I going to do?" she sighs. Upon its last inspection, the vault in the cellar only held about 500G- just about enough to buy five bars of cooking chocolate. "Can I live off cooking chocolate alone? I'd get so fat..."

"What are you doing, Jill?" A voice rings out over the field, from outside the log cabin. "Started work for once?"

"Hello, Takakura," Jill replies, waving. "Yeah, I did."

The mentor looks over the field, and his colossal eyebrows furrow. "Huh. This place was your dad's pride and joy. Don't damage the family name, alright?"

_He isn't even a member of my family! _"Okay, Takakura."

"You got all the tools you need?" Takakura asks. Jill nods in response, pointing to the sickle on the floor.

"You know how to use them?" he asks. Jill is less quick to reply this time.

"And, uh, Takakura?" she asks. "I don't suppose we have any more seeds...?" She holds up the tiny sachet, frowning. "I won't be able to make nearly enough money with just these..."

"There's stuff growing in other parts of the Valley, too," Takakura responds. "You can ship that stuff for a profit. Most of that stuff's edible, too. Just be careful what you eat. Don't want you to get poisoned, now." He laughs to himself, and plods off.

* * *

It's been ages since Jill went out into the Valley. The place feels like a different planet. It's so quiet, and devoid of everything. A narrow path winds out just from the entrance of the farm, and it branches out in several directions. Jill has no idea which one leads where. As Takakura said, there are numerous little lots of land scattered here and there, and they're in a state similar to that of the ranch- covered in weeds and branches and rocks. Jill isn't sure of the origin- there aren't even that many trees of significant girth around, and it's not as if they're next to a cliff face or anything else that could have rocks tumbling onto nearby terrain- but in the end, the origin doesn't even matter, because an answer arises clear as day: _I'm going to have to clear out this place as well._

By midday, Jill has decided that manual labour is incredibly overrated. At least, what she thinks is midday- it probably would have been best to wear a watch if she was going to trawl around the valley looking for things to sell in absence of actual produce. The position of the sun in the sky is her only guide as she trudges through what seems to be a sea of rocks and sticks with her rucksack jumping to and fro on her back, filled with bamboo shoots and flowers. (Moondrop and toyflower- the botanical diaries lined up on the bookshelves might be old, but Jill is fairly confident she knows flowers better than anyone else in the Valley thanks to them.) There's also a bunch of curious grass-like sprouts she's collected- some of it's orange in colour, and some of it's yellow.

Jill initially isn't sure about whether shipping them is a good idea, so she quietly taste-tests them under the secrecy of a tree. The orange grass is completely bland and flavourless, and after a few seconds she's completely forgotten what it tasted like in her mouth. The yellow grass is worse, though- it's bitter and tastes like the medicine she used to take when she was younger, which she would nearly always spit out- and she does. _This can be somebody else's problem,_ she thinks, as she stuffs the rest of the bunch inside her rucksack.

A curious slog uphill leads her to something she had nearly forgotten about completely- the Goddess's pond. Some of the Valley residents are crowded around it. She recognises Hugh chasing butterflies over by the shade- his mother and hers were friends, before the cancer took her away from Jill's clutches. Seemingly, though, Hugh had never caught wind of that news, and he looks chipper as ever, with his short fiery hair sticking straight up, and the ever-present band-aid on his nose remaining resolute on his features. He gives a wave, noticing Jill after a while, and she waves back sheepishly. She steps up to the pond, and gazes into it with curiosity.

The water is a glimmering shade of turquoise, and tiny fish can be seen through the surface, darting back and forth. It's beautiful, but doesn't seem beautiful enough to be the domain of a goddess- probably because it no longer is, Jill figures with a frown. What kind of twisted dimension has the Harvest Goddess been sent to? What kind of dimension would accommodate her? How severe is the punishment?

"Excuse me?" A girlish voice distracts her from her train of thought, accompanied by giggles. Jill looks over, and realises she's being addressed by three girls, sitting on a picnic blanket. "Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you around before!"

The girl talking to her is incredibly pretty, completely unlike Jill's expectation of what a girl living in this kind of setting might look like. She has gorgeous blonde hair that falls down in perfect curls, and is very made-up; her eyeliner is flicked up and her lips are peach-pink. She wears a pastel-blue cardigan over a strapless red dress, a garment that seems a bit daring for a simple picnic. But her smile is kind, and her eyes are inquisitive, so Jill decides that she isn't the kind of person to be mocking of a complete stranger.

"Oh, um, I'm Juliet Wilson," Jill smiles nervously, reaching to scratch the back of her aching neck. "I own the farm in the- uh, the Wilson Ranch. I own it. But, um, call me Jill if you like."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Muffy." She smiles, and turns to the girl beside her. "Celia, you work on a farm, right? Does Wilson Ranch ring a bell to you?"

The girl- presumably Celia- gasps. "Oh! That's the really famous one! With all the animals, and the gigantic crop fields... you must be the heiress! You're so lucky!" She gives a happy sigh. She's considerably more homely than Muffy, Jill notices- but that isn't to say she isn't pretty in her own way. Her clothes are a lot less extravagant: a pale green apron over a moss-coloured skirt and blouse, with a light yellow woven bandanna keeping her chocolate-brown hair away from her face. She isn't wearing any make-up either, but her face positively glows with a sort of vitality only found in small children. Jill's about to ask where she's heard her name from, then memories of this morning come rushing back: _"Maybe we could get you started with assistant work at Vesta's farm? Mind you, she doesn't need the burden, there's already Marlin and Celia..."_

"You work at Vesta's farm, right?" Jill asks.

"Yeah!" Celia exclaims happily. "She's my aunt! Vesta, I mean. She's a little strict, but she means well. Besides, isn't farming exciting? I love it when the crops grow up all big and healthy! It feels like a shame to sell them off!"

"Don't get her started," Muffy giggles, "she'll go on for ages. Come on, sit down!"

Jill goes down and kneels on the blanket, attempting not to upset the picnic basket as she sits. She looks around, and fidgets nervously.

"It must be so nice to own a farm," a girl on the right speaks up, sounding wistful. "I'd love to have that kind of freedom."

Muffy sighed. "Still getting all the 'how to be a lady' lessons from your grandma, Lumina?"

The girl nods. She looks younger than both Muffy and Celia. Her eyes are brown, and her hair is the colour of caramel, cut short and framed by a yellow Alice band. Her clothes are very 'proper' compared to Muffy's and Celia's; she wears an olive-coloured dress with long sleeves that stops just above her ankles, and an orange scarf tied around her shoulders. She exudes class from every corner. Jill can't help but feel excessively plain compared to the three- perhaps taking a bit more time on her hair this morning wouldn't have been so sacrilegious.

"Don't misunderstand, I love playing the piano, but I don't really like doing it every afternoon," Lumina sighs. "Flower-arranging, too. And etiquette lessons. I would jump at the chance to give corsetry and watercolour painting a miss, too..."

"Come work on my farm for a while," Jill offers. "You can help me pull out all the weeds!"

The girls laugh, especially Celia. _They think I'm joking, _Jill thinks. _Maybe if I show them the state of the place... no, better not._

"So you're new around the Forget-Me-Not Valley, Jill?" Muffy asks, taking a loaf of bread out of the picnic basket. "How new are we talking? Like, literally just arrived, or just shy?"

"Well, um, I've lived here for about a month now," Jill says quietly. "Since I inherited the farm. Since my mum died." Lumina nods in sympathy, with a tiny frown on her face. "I, uh, haven't really got out much since I arrived. I was busy, er, preparing. You know, surveying the land, plotting out stuff..." She figures mentioning the fact that she was an ardent slacker would be a bad idea around someone like Celia. She seems convinced, though.

"Well, it's about time we got you introduced to the fine folk of Forget-Me-Not Valley, Jill," Muffy winks. "Celia, Lumina. We need to find her a man!"

"Right now?" Lumina gasps.

"Surely she should get to know everyone first," Celia frowns.

"I'm not talking _now_, now," Muffy smiles. "But it's not fair if the rest of us hog all the guys! I mean, Celia has Marlin all to herself, Rock definitely has a thing for Lumina, and then there's that weird dynamic between Carter and Flora..."

"T-thing?" Lumina stutters. "But Rock's a jerk! He's always teasing me!"

"Insecurity," Muffy waves her hand at Lumina sagely. "Do you really expect a boy with a haircut like his to be well-versed in the ways of love?"

"I suppose you have a point," Lumina withdraws, glancing at the floor.

"Just take your time, Jill," Celia smiles cheerily. "You don't need to get a boyfriend right away if you don't want to! Muffy just gets excited when there's new potential chemistry, you see."

"But there's so much of it," Muffy sighs. "Just you wait, Jill. A week and you'll be beating them back with sticks! The boys, I mean."

Jill frowns. "You think?"

"Yeah!" Muffy claps excitedly. "Just look at you! They'll be all over you and your pretty purple eyes. In fact, if they're not careful, they'll have to have a meeting with Muffy, the bodyguard. Protect Jill at all costs! That's my motto." Jill looks down and blushes- her eyes, an odd shade of violet, have always been her most prominent trait. They're the same as her mother's were- who was named after them, in fact.

"Muffy," Lumina giggles, "you're not exactly bodyguard material."

"I can get Flora to teach me martial arts," Muffy shrugs. "She's pretty good at that, right? I mean, there was that one time where she came by the bar for a drink, and ended up having about ten... the damage fees were _huuuuge. _That window never shuts properly now."

"Muffy's a waitress at the Blue Bar," Celia explains to a confused Jill. "It's the most popular bar in the Valley- in fact, it's the only bar in the Valley! Marlin won't let me come with him, though. He says he doesn't want me to get hit on."

"Oh, please!" Muffy chuckles. "Patrick and Kassey aren't _that _dangerous. Neither are the rest of the boys. Which, therefore, makes it the perfect place for Jill to pick up a fiancé!"

"I'd love to," Jill answers sheepishly, "a bit later, though."

"Of course," Muffy nods sagely. "Of course."

"Ah!" Lumina gasps all of a sudden, checking a wristwatch. "Afternoon tea!"

"We just had a picnic," Muffy frowns, "what do you want afternoon tea for?"

"Tradition," Lumina answers, standing up and dusting off invisible dirt from her clothing. "My grandma gets really angry if I'm late for it. The tea has to brew for a certain amount of time, you see, otherwise it gets too weak."

"You proper ladies and your tea-drinking," Muffy sighs. "Turn eighteen already! We need to introduce you to some _real_ drinks."

"I've only got a few months more to go," Lumina says. "Say, Jill, do you want to come home with me? You can meet my grandma, and my butler Sebastian, too. Guests are always welcome at my house! Providing they're not Rock."

"Well..." The bamboo shoots and flowers in her rucksack are forgotten now. "Okay!"

* * *

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Juliet," the elderly butler smiles, pouring out some tea. "It's always a delight to have new guests around. I've served Ms. Romana in this valley for many years now, and I can safely say I think you'll enjoy your new life very much."

"Thank you, um, sir," Jill says, unsure of what type of formality to use.

"Please, Sebastian is fine," he chuckles. "We're like a big family in this valley. There's no need for such formalities." He sets the teapot onto the dining table, and sets down a plate of scones next to it. They smell delicious, but Jill is apprehensive to take one, just in case it violates some unspoken rule of etiquette. "Speaking of which, Ms. Lumina? Who's this "Phantom Skye" fellow? I found a note from him whilst cleaning your room."

"Phantom Skye?" Lumina echoes, putting down her teacup. "I don't think I know anyone with such an odd name... what did it say?"

Sebastian takes a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, and hands it to Lumina. "It's awfully formal," he remarks. "Might he be related to your friend Mary in some way? I hear she's got quite the dedication to literature."

Lumina unfolds the letter, as Jill watches in confusion. Her first day working for real, and two anomalies already?

Lumina seems equally confused as she reads. "Dear Miss Lumina... I'll be visiting... heirlooms, fine jewellery... tonight, at 10pm. Sincerely, Phantom Skye... what? I've never heard of such a man before in my life. Who could it possibly be?"

"Are you sure it's a man?" Jill asks. "I mean, Skye sounds like quite a feminine name, if you ask me."

Suddenly, the door opens, and a matronly figure bustles in. "Ridiculous!" she cries. "This talk of jewellery and phantoms. Why, there hasn't been a single case of thievery in this valley for centuries!"

"Thievery?" Lumina, Sebastian and Jill echo, all at once. There's a pause, and a quiet "oh" from Lumina.

"Goodness, dear," the lady tuts, seating herself at the table as Sebastian pours more tea. "Haven't you heard of the phantom thief? He's the biggest fear of high society."

"Is he a ghost?" Jill asks. "Is that why?"

The elderly woman cackles. "No! Don't be silly. Well, to be truthful, he might be. I've heard stories from my friends in Mineral Town, and they all say he's quite pale. Fairly good-looking, for one so young. Although I do wonder what a phantom ought to be doing, stealing jewellery. Youth these days..." She takes a scone, and nibbles at it delicately with yellowing teeth. "Ahh... Phantom Skye! What a farce."

Jill, confused by the old woman's muttering, looks back over to Lumina, who still looks unsure. "Heirlooms?" Jill asks.

Lumina looks down, gazing into her tea cup. "Don't worry about it."

* * *

Afternoon tea in Lumina's house continues for about another hour until Jill excuses herself, fearing an overstay of welcome. It's very nearly 4 o'clock, so Jill rushes back to the farmhouse, hoping she won't miss the shipment time. At least, that was the initial plan.

Completely losing track of the various pathways and houses on the way home didn't happen to be part of that plan, but it took place anyway.

_Out of all the times I could have gotten lost, _Jill thinks, looking around at the completely foreign surroundings, _it had to be now?_

The sun was setting on the horizon. Mayor Thomas had probably checked the empty shipping bin long ago, completely unsurprised by the absence of produce. Cat and Dog hadn't been fed- although they had no boundaries in terms of what was Violet's and what was theirs, so they'd probably stolen the leftovers from the breakfast basket by now. It would be far too embarrassing to go back to Lumina's house to ask for directions home, when she had been wandering aimlessly for so long. Where even is this? There's some hills, and a strange burning smell in the distance, combined with a similar incense-like one, as well as sounds of a guitar strumming- pleasant, certainly, but completely useless in this situation. It's outside of the main area, so there are no lamp-posts to guide Jill back to a recognisable location as the sun slowly dips out of view. It gets darker and darker, and soon the guitar fades out into silence, as well as the smell of incense. It's now replaced with the sounds of waves of the distant sea- maybe it's not so distant, though, because it feels like it's ringing directly into Jill's ears.

This would be great if she wasn't panicking, Jill decides.

Some of her mother's words ring back into her ears. _You give up far too easily, Jill dear. Just press on. You'll be fine. _They're brought back by the sight of the crescent moon in the sky- memories of frantic late-night exam revision come flooding back, from the high school years where being forced to inherit a world-famous farm was at the back of Jill's mind. Now, those very words seem cruelly ironic- Violet Wilson certainly pressed on in spite of the awful cells threatening to take over her body and kill her, and she certainly didn't end up fine in the end. Jill is alone now, and there's nobody she can rely on.

She sighs a deep sigh of simultaneous dread and regret, and turns around to go back the way she came. Where would she be if her mother was still alive? _Certainly not here,_ Jill thinks. But where? Jill considers herself far too simple to be a philosophical type, but perhaps there's another universe out there where none of this happened, and she's in university right now studying to be a hairdresser, or an artist, or maybe a journalist, while her mother takes over the farm.

Her footsteps are lonesome on the path; even the bar she can see in the distance is closed. Muffy's, perhaps? It should be locked, now, though- no chance of getting help from there, she thinks.

And then Jill is reminded of something even more daunting.

Phantom Skye, the thief mentioned earlier, could quite possibly be out hunting for heirlooms, as evidenced by his warning to Lumina.

He's striking this very evening.

10pm, was it?

Afternoon tea seems like ages ago now, and the exact conversation had is beginning to fade from her mind. But she knows something tonight is going to go down, whether Lumina's jewellery gets stolen or not- it seems awfully _odd _to warn someone before burgling their house- and Jill figures it would be best to check on her new friend. If something does happen, Jill doesn't want to have done nothing at all to prevent it, after all- her mother would be turning in her grave. Frantic steps are taken back up the path, clumsily retraced from memory. Jill hopes that her memory doesn't let her down, and it doesn't. She finds her way back to the bridge that separates Lumina's villa from the rest of the valley. Her view of the front of the mansion is obscured by the fountain in front of it, and there's no evidence of audible commotion, but she urges herself to walk faster, faster, faster, until she hears some footsteps that aren't her own, and all of a sudden she's swept off her feet.

Not in the physical sense. The metaphorical sense.

She remembers the sequence vividly. The realisation that the footsteps aren't behind her, they're in front of her, and are walking in the opposite direction to she is, and she stops abruptly in the shock only to look up into the most gorgeous pair of eyes she'd ever seen. Definitely not Lumina's or Sebastian's. The owner of the eyes stops too.

Surprisingly enough, it's a young man- the light, brisk sound of the footsteps had given Jill a very different impression, until Jill sees the dress shoes on his feet. His hair is almost silver in the moonlight, and sways slightly behind him in the waning spring breeze; it's _long_, too, past his shoulders. He's clad in a leopard-skin jacket in a matching shade of silver, and purple slacks with something spilling out of the pockets- only once Jill notices his incredibly pale, almost ivory skin does she put two and two together.

But he speaks before she can.

"Hehe. Out late at night, beautiful?" He smiles, and it's enough to render Jill completely speechless. "It's dangerous for such a beautiful maiden to be out so late at night. You never know who you could run into." And he winks.

Jill attempts to put together a coherent reply out of the many words buzzing in her head, but nothing audible comes out.

m~m~m~m~m

In all truths, I wasn't expecting to have additional company on my little excursion to the villa. And as it turns out, neither did she.

The people of Forget-Me-Not Valley don't exactly embrace my presence, but I don't recognise this strange new girl in the least. There is nothing about her dim appearance in the moonlight that can clue me in to her identity- an occupation, a personality, an ego, nothing. My first impression is that she's some sort of guard- who else would walk up here at this time of night? She seems to be dressed fairly casually, with a heaving rucksack slipping off her shoulders. A traveller, perhaps? No, there's already one of those in this valley, and this place is hardly populated enough to have more than one person with the same interests in life. There's a sort of earthy smell about her, though, sort of like the scent of the farm I sneak past every evening, Vesta's, if I'm not mistaken. She isn't the other girl, though.

She doesn't seem to notice that I'm looking her up and down- despite her deer-in-the-headlights look, she's staring directly into my eyes. I would be completely used to this reaction were there not something that interested me about her- her eyes are purple. It's completely unsurprising to come across a person with that kind of colouring in their eyes; my hair's naturally silver, after all. But this odd girl's eyes, by some mysterious propulsion, have me locked on the spot. Even though I'm meant to be making my escape right about now.

She doesn't respond to me, but for the sake of speeding things up, I reply for her. "My name's Phantom Skye. I'm quite the ladies' man, and a prince of the stars. And who might you be?"

"Jill," she responds, only to stop, and respond with something else. "No! Um... Juliet. My name's Juliet... no, no, it's Jill... Juliet..."

Never before have I seen someone so confused about their own first name, but I decide to take what I can get. "Juliet, hmm? A fitting name for one so beautiful. Nomen est omen, after all..." I giggle, as she looks down. The strange charm behind her irises has worn off, and she's no more difficult to disarm than any other girl. Predictable.

"The Juliet in the play died, though," she says, seemingly picking up the reference as she kicks an invisible pebble on the ground. "She poisoned herself, I think. She was only thirteen years old. It wasn't very pretty. Then again, it's been a while since I studied Shakespeare in high school, so I wouldn't really know." She puts her foot down, and looks me firmly in the eyes again. "I suppose, if name is destiny, you're destined to become the phantom thief that was meant to be striking this villa at exactly this time of night, then?"

I almost wince. Perhaps I was too quick to ignore the "guard" possibility. "What if I was?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"If you were, you might want to return that jewellery to Lumina and make a run for it," she responds sharply, raising two eyebrows. She looks over to the door of the mansion, and it bursts open, as if on command.

"Jill!" Lumina- was that her name?- exclaims. "Is that you? That's the thief! Don't let him get away!"

Juliet nods ferociously. "It's alright, Lumina."

I sigh deeply, and gaze into Juliet's eyes one final time. "It troubles me to orphan a profound conversation with a lady possessing such charisma as yourself, dear Juliet, but I really must be going now." As expected, she's speechless again- it's somewhat amazing how quickly she lets her guard down with a few words. Smirking, I wave one final goodbye, and run.

"H-hey!" Lumina yells out after me, giving chase unlike her dear stunned friend. "Stop! Thief!"

I stop again, and face her briefly. "Heh. Don't spoil your face with such anger, maiden. It would be a pity to ruin such a beautiful visage with baseless rage." It has exactly the effect I'd anticipated- she pauses, stutters something, and continues the chase halfheartedly, only to stop and sigh wistfully as I retreat into the night.

Really, it couldn't have been more easy.

* * *

Jill walks up to Lumina's shivering figure, as they watch Phantom Skye's gradually vanishing back. Neither of them have the drive to continue pursuit.

"He's so _cool,_" Lumina giggles, her face pink and her hands shaking gleefully. "I-I just... wow!"

"I think I'll have sweet dreams tonight," Jill murmurs to herself.


End file.
